TOMMASO CIAMPA PROMO- yes, he actually spoke this time. Unfortunately they let this non-talking thing go on for long enough that there were now dueling chants instead of just people booing Ciampa and cheering for Gargano. He didn’t really say enough to warrant doing this, IMO. He said that Gargano was gone, then went around ripping and crumpling up more signs.
Just when this started to really get boring, he grabbed the sign from a masked fan in the row… so yeah… it was Gargano. Personally, I would have rather Gargano just charged his way down the through the crowd and hopped the barricade. They brawled, but it was quickly broken up by security, who removed Gargano from the building.

CHARLY CARUSO GIVES US A DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC RECAP- this was done in a way that made it feel like filler, and the way Charly was scripted made this feel like some sort of early 90’s thing. The real news here is that due to an injury to Tyler Bate, Mustache Mountain will have to withdraw from the tournament.

RODDY PHONE PROMO- he wants a spot in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. He asks Regal very politely and apparently he was told to find a partner. Trent Seven seems like an obvious solution to this problem, seeing as how he was supposed to be in this spot anyway. At least it made sense for this to have been shot on Roddy’s phone.

UNDISPUTED ERA PROMO- they bury Roddy and say they’ll beat whoever wins the tag tournament. Cole cut a cocky promo on Ohno, making fun of his name and saying that he’s so confident he can beat Ohno that he wants Fish & O’Reilly to stay in the back.

DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC FIRST-ROUND MATCH: Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Roderick Strong & Pete Dunne- 7.5/10
Didn’t Dunne snub Roddy recently? Anyway, they worked well together. So well that they beat the much more established team of Burch & Lorcan… but then again maybe that shouldn’t be much of a surprise because Burch & Lorcan never win. It’s at the point where I feel bad for them. Lorcan has been signed for two and a half years and is barely above a jobber, and Burch still isn’t even signed despite being used so often. The match itself was exactly the hard-hitting affair you’d expect, and Roddy & Dunne vs. reDRagon seems like one hell of a tag title match for Takeover.

RICOCHET VIDEO PACKAGE- short

ALIYAH vs. EMBER MOON- 2.5/10
Aliyah’s stupid cat-ears are gone, so that’s a plus. Unfortunately, Aliyah herself is still around. Nigel reminds us that Aliyah took a class in circus skills at college, so hopefully she’ll run away and join the circus soon.
Shayna Baszler showed up to do commentary and immediately put her feet up on the desk like a jerk. Excellent. What wasn’t excellent was that she was basically impossible to hear. She and Ember engaged in some post-match mic-less trash talking. Is this not a million times better than the way they do this crap on the main roster with guys inevitably interfering in the match at least causing a distraction?

RAUL MENDOZA GETS ASSAULTED ON HIS WAY TO THE RING BY ANDRADE “CIEN” ALMAS- hey! He can’t do that! Mendoza isn’t an Ealy Brother!

ANDRADE “CIEN” ALMAS PROMO- he rants angrily about Aleister Black disrespecting him, even calling him a “piece of sh*t” and demanding that Aleister face him next week. The announcers explain to us that Aleister isn’t here this week, which is why he isn’t coming out to face Almas right now.

LARS SULLIVAN VIDEO PACKAGE- fine… but he should be past the point of video packages buy now. He should be in some sort of storyline. Apparently he’s returning next week, but I’m honestly not sure what he’s returning from. Was he injured?

WILLIAM REGAL TEASE A MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT FOR NEXT WEEK THAT “WILL CHANGE THE LANDSCAPE OF NXT FOREVER”- secondary title, maybe?

ADAM COLE vs. KASSIUS OHNO- 8.25/10
They had an awesome match and worked over each other’s heads. This was hard-hitting as hell. Go watch it.

WILLIAM REGAL TEASE A MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT FOR NEXT WEEK THAT “WILL CHANGE THE LANDSCAPE OF NXT FOREVER”- secondary title, maybe

I've heard through various grapvines that it is a new championship and it's going to be called the "NXT North-American Championship".

Ugh... I hope not. How many titles do they need on a one hour show?

I'm hoping he's going to publicly fire Percy Watson, but you're probably right about the new championship thing.

In all fairness, I think if they do go for the new title it'll be used much the same as the UK Championship. Only occasionally defended on TV and used at house shows. Though I'm not sure it'll have the same free reign as the UK Championship. Pete Dunne is permitted to take it with him to other British wrestling shows and appearances, I can't imagine they'll allow that with a North-American Championship.

"While you're looking at Bop, I'll hit you with Bang. You day see that coming"